Bentonville is a small town in Northwest Arkansas that has, over time, become synonymous with massive retail operations and corporate ecosystems. The bustling hub is ingrained with the legacy of Walton’s, a small nickel and dime convenience store that opened on Bentonville’s downtown square in 1950 to serve its surrounding community. The shop quickly found success, and owner Sam Walton opened another store nearby that would evolve into the largest retailer in the world: Walmart.
During this time and throughout the ’60s, a post-war boom overtook the burgeoning commercial landscape of the United States. The suburban American Dream became a catalyst for retailers to adapt to an evolving social fabric that aimed to serve families hunting for necessities at an affordable price, and in a pinch. As a result, various amenities were introduced to convenience stores and chains, including the emergence of self-serve gasoline pumps.

The 1980s and ’90s, however, ushered in a new frontier of American commerce rooted in modernization. Supermarkets began to resemble the eptiome of a “one-stop-shop,” significantly transcending previous notions of convenience. In just one trip to the store, busy parents had the ability to pick out groceries for the week, restock housekeeping supplies, fill prescriptions, and feed their families lunch at the food court—all while waiting for their vacation photos to develop via rapid film processing. Securing a quick and easy premade dinner was possible thanks to the popular frozen food aisle, and as a cherry on top, VHS movies were available for purchase to pair with the titular “TV dinner.”
U.K.-based artist Lucy Sparrow refers to this moment as “the beginning of convenience,” which doubles as the title of her newest large-scale installation and first museum exhibition in the United States. The Beginning of Convenience at The Momentary calls to the nostalgia of regional chain stores, retro packaging aesthetics, and a time when life was, as the artist described at the show’s opening, “becoming more about enjoyment and less about toil.”
For many, modern grocery stores can be imposing, and Sparrow’s monumental assemblage conjures a similar feeling of being carried away. The immensity of The Beginning of Convenience, however, invokes feelings of joy and comfort, rather than a newfangled sensory overload. Stocked to the brim with more than 20,000 handmade objects, an expansive collection of soft, felt artworks take over a 4,000-square-foot gallery space, creating an immersive experience for visitors—or, more fittingly—shoppers.
Much of the magic comes from the painstaking details that work together in molding an all-out sensory experience. For instance, as viewers weave through the aisles, music in the style of old-school supermarket beats hums in the background. The music however, is occasionally interrupted with amusing, familiar intercom announcements in a fuzzy tone, calling the parents or guardians of a lost young girl named Lucy to make their way to the photo department.

At the opening earlier this month, the artist was dressed for the occasion wearing a light blue, collared button-down shirtdress with vertical stripes running down the middle. Sparrow and her team shared that the custom garment was inspired by original Walmart uniforms from the company’s archives, extending a subtle nod to the fitting location of the exhibition.
Sparrow wields a remarkable ability to craft welcoming spaces for quite literally anyone. Each of the artist’s renowned installations over the years are the brainchild of her own imaginative world, and a sense of vulnerability comes with our invitation into it. “Lucy’s work is quirky yet subversive,” says an exhibition statement. “Her soft and colorful felt creations charm and disarm visitors, while her detailed research practice and incisive observations inspire strong feelings of nostalgia, community, and conversations around shared history.”
This deeply humane feeling is refreshing within the context of American consumerism and growing corporatism. Especially as of late, the simple task of grocery shopping has become an increasingly divisive experience, and for many Americans, trips to the store are a looming reminder of shrinking household budgets and soaring prices, making it nearly impossible to associate ordinary retail environments with anything but exhaustion or stress.
The presence of joy and childlike wonder in The Beginning of Convenience offers a significant subversion. Injecting this feeling into a visceral environment allows each viewer to shift their focus to enjoyment, the marvels of retail innovation, and the nostalgia that comes with it.

Evoking the emotional power of soft toys, felt as a material inspires feelings of warmth and security. While walking through Sparrow’s produce and meat department, this impression seems nearly impossible to ignore as netted bags of oranges, piles of juicy grapefruits, and fresh cuts of pork chop look up at you with shy smiles.
Because of this, it seems easy to tap into an imaginative world where many of Sparrow’s plush products unmistakably possess individual souls. Perhaps the Georgia peaches have a more bubbly personality than their spiky pineapple neighbors, and, conceivably, the beef steaks across the aisle may be tough on the outside but tender at heart. Somehow anything seems possible in a world that melds the energetic spirit of commercialism with the with the slow, mindful creation of the same objects through cutting, stuffing, sewing, and embellishing.
Upon exiting the supermarket experience, viewers encounter even more felt versions of common items within grocery store vestibules: vending machines dispensing your choice of Coke or Pepsi products, a photobooth, a coin-operated mechanical car ride, and an electronic ATM, which, at the time, was reaching its ubiquity.
Turning a corner into the separate area, visitors are met with a massive floor-to-ceiling installation of more than 3,000 stuffed bananas. The sight is a recreation of the artist’s “Banana Room,” a comforting place in her studio to relax and “be surrounded by happiness,” she says. Sparrow received her first plush banana when she was nine years old as a present from her father, and later received a larger version who was named Sebastian. Sebastian’s presence throughout the show and as a mascot for the artist’s practice is further proof of the unfaltering childlike wonder imbued within every corner of Sparrow’s practice.

Across from the Banana Room sits a replica of the “Felt Cave.” The space—previously an ambulance station that was converted into Sparrow’s studio—offers more insight into Sparrow’s artistic process and the teamwork that goes into creating thousands of objects, one at a time. Sparrow is supported by five full-time assistants, four cats, freelancers, and, of course, Sebastian.
Along with a faux window displaying the exact view from the studio—overlooking two colorful cars frequently parked outside, including a hot pink Jeep sporting a “F3LT U” license plate—The Felt Cave is filled with thousands more surprises. As the exhibition label notes, there is “an ‘HR Department’ of bespectacled bananas, a canary yellow cuckoo clock, and ‘dab dabs’—abstract paintings created from dabbing the excess off the tip of a paint bottle.”
The Beginning of Convenience is on view through July 11, 2027.











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En toen waren ineens alle Nederlandse showmedia in rep en roer wegens een vage aankondiging van Madonna in het Nederlands. Ze wil ons iets vertellen, maar wil nog niet vertellen wat ze wil vertellen en het is allemaal erg vaag. Wellicht heeft de toch wel uitgerangeerde kwien of pop besloten om zich volledig te storten op de Nederlandse markt, misschien gaat ze alleen nog maar nummers van Nick en Simon coveren, misschien neemt ze de vastgoedportefeuille van prins Bernhard over, misschien wordt ze de nieuwe burgemeester van Terneuzen, misschien tekent ze een lucratief contract bij de NPO of heeft het allemaal tóch iets met de World Pride in Amsterdam te maken. We zullen wel zien wat er dadelijk aan onze reedt geroest zit. Goed nummer wel, Believe.
Social

Een nieuwe dag, een nieuwe manier om het voetbal nog dooier maken dan het al is. Gianni Infantino zit nog in een rush na dat mega succesvolle pracht-WK en wil de wereldbeker nu in de verkoop zetten. De FIFA, een Zwitserse non-profit die op elk toernooi verlies draait behalve het WK, moet een FIFA-bedrijf oprichten met de naam FIFA Forward Enterprise. Private investeerders kunnen daar miljoenenmiljarden inpompen en daarmee kan de FIFA vervolgens het WK organiseren om die miljoenenmiljarden in nog veel meer miljoenenmiljarden te veranderen. U mag 3x raden in welke kringen de eerste investeerders worden gezocht. Juist. Afijn iedereen boos en de UEFA woest en de voetbalbonden nog opvallend stil maar die gaan dadelijk gewoon tekenen bij het kruisje. Straks gewoon weer naar een of ander corrupt kudtland voor een corrupt kudttoernooi en kudthartjes onder een kudtpost van die kudtvoorzitter plaatsen want het gaat uiteindelijk om de sport, of zo.
SocialWie dacht dat er in dit land helemaal niks meer over was wat nog kapot kan worden gemaakt door WOKE, komt bedrogen uit. Al jaren verkoopt Hela uit Venlo haar Kruiden Ketchup Curry sauzen in een cilindervormige fles met een eenvoudige dop. Als je de Hela Kruiden Ketchup Curry rechtop in de koelkast bewaart, betekent dit dat het na een tijdje even duurt tot de curry eruit komt, en als de curry er dan uitkomt heb je opeens meer curry dan je dacht omdat je zo ongeduldig was. Als je Hela Kruiden Ketchup Curry ondersteboven in de koelkast bewaart en je doet de dop open, heb je in één keer een hele dot curry op je bord. Wat je natuurlijk moet doen is de fles curry ondersteboven in de koelkast bewaren, maar hem dan vlak voor je hem nodig hebt even omdraaien, zodat je daarna snel de juiste dosering saus op je bord en/of snack en/friet kunt gieten. Dat is gewoon hoe het werkt. Dat is Nederland. Dat is curry. Dat is Hela. Maar nee. Volgens ene 'Giovanni' op het internet is dat niet goed genoeg. Hij wil dat Hela zich aanpast aan de eisen van deze nieuwe tijd waarin curry kopen niet meer draait om het verhaal, om de beleving, om de intensiteit van de culturele ervaring, maar alleen maar om zonder moeite de juiste dosering saus te kunnen schenken. Dacht het niet Giovanni. Houdt Hela Hela. Stop deze gekte.

Bij de Zeeuwse ggz-instelling Emergis lopen ze er elke dag tegenaan: het tekort aan gespecialiseerde gezondheidszorgpsychologen. De ggz in Nederland hoeft volgens een adviesorgaan niet te groeien, maar heeft voor de zwaardere problematiek wel beter opgeleide psychologen nodig. Toch sloeg zorgminister Mirjam Sterk (CDA) dit advies in de wind.
So then I ordered the cheapest fisheye camera lens I could find (49mm wide angle macro, $30) whose smaller lens was just slightly larger than the output lens of the projector. Success! It worked the first time.
(Someone who knew what they were doing might have looked at the focal length and done math to determine what kind of lens was needed. I very much did not do that. But I got lucky!)
I enlarged the various holes to make the new lens fit inside the dome, and got an 82mm to 95mm step-up adapter ring to screw onto the front of the fisheye, to have something I could drill into to hold it in place inside the dome. Then I cut the old electronics housing in half and dremeled out all of the interior greeblies to have a sleeve to slip over the new projector. The rest is duct tape.
I had to open up the new projector to extend the IR receiver into the dome, since, like the old eyeball, it doesn't remember its settings and you have to manually select HDMI on a remote after a power failure.
The image is 16:9 and doesn't fill the whole dome, and it's a little fuzzy on the edges, but for eyeball purposes, it's close enough. Once I get an ethernet cable in there, I'm going to see what tweaks I can make on the image in software to make it fill the frame a little better.
KYIV (ANP) - De Oekraïense minister van Buitenlandse Zaken Andri Sybiha zegt een "openhartig" gesprek te hebben gevoerd met zijn Iraanse ambtgenoot Abbas Araghchi. Dat gesprek volgde op een boze reactie vanuit Iran nadat Oekraïne een vrachtschip aanviel op de Kaspische Zee. Daarbij zou een Iraniër zijn omgekomen.
Minstens een andere persoon raakte volgens Iran gewond. Het land noemde de aanval een daad van agressie en dreigde met een reactie te komen.
"Diplomatie draait om directe gesprekken, ook wanneer het moeilijk is", schrijft Sybiha op X. "Ik heb benadrukt dat het ons doel is om onnodige escalatie te voorkomen." Ook Araghchi maakte melding van het telefoongesprek op sociale media, maar hij vermeldde daar niet bij wat er is besproken.
Volgens Sybiha is het doel van Oekraïne alleen om de Russische agressie, "wat de hoofdoorzaak is van alle incidenten", tegen te gaan. Hij zou hebben gezegd dat alle steun aan Rusland moet stoppen. Iran geldt als bondgenoot van Rusland.